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Katamari Damashii: The Snowball Effect

GameSpy speaks with Namco about Katamari Damashii, a new game about a little prince with the sticky ball.

Executives at companies like Nintendo, SEGA, KOEI, Konami, and Enterbrain (publisher of Famitsu) are all singing a similar chorus of "Where's the innovation?" It's a fair question. Eight of the top 10 games on the Japanese most-wanted list have numbers in them -- i.e., Final Fantasy XII, Dragon Quest VIII, Biohazard 4, and Kingdom Hearts 2.

One of the two lacking numbers in their names is Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. The number is implicit.

Against this backdrop of series chicanery, Namco has released a game that is "quirky," "odd," "different." In a word "innovative." The game is Katamari Damashii, a project with an interesting past and a promising future.

GameSpy had the opportunity to discuss Katamari Damashii with executives at Namco, and the game's background is as intriguing as is its quirky style of play. First, though, a brief preview.

Katamari Damashii

Publisher: Namco

Platform: PlayStation 2

Note: This game sells for 4,000 yen -- 1,800 yen less than most new games.

In a moment of drunken foolishness, a cosmic king knocks the stars out of the night sky. To clean up his mess, the king sends a diminutive prince with a barrel-shaped head to Earth to gather balls of debris that can be shot into space to reestablish the constellations.

Katamari Damashii starts small with the little prince rolling this sticky ball around a Japanese-style living room picking up odds and ends such as batteries, Lego blocks, and silverware. As the prince's ball picks up more bric-a-brac, it grows in volume and its gravity increases. By the time the ball is one circumferential half-meter, it can pick up radios, plates of food, shoes, and pets.

Katamari Damashii is divided into challenges. Most levels begin with the king demanding a ball measuring a certain size. You then go out and have a specified amount of time to gather enough stuff to make your quota.

Like a snowball rolling down a mountain, your "Katamari," or lump, grows in velocity. When your ball is only a few centimeters in diameter, and you cannot pick up anything larger than a spoon, it is hard to grow. As you get larger, and the things you snag become bigger, it becomes much easier to grow. One moment you are picking up shoes and toys along the side of the fence, the next you may be able to pick up the fence and add mass quickly.

And the momentum continues to build. Soon you are snatching dogs and cows, and gas pumps, and cars, and sumo wrestlers.

There are enemies in this game. When you are small, you will sometimes be struck by mice. Later, dogs will attack you when your ball has cat or dog food. Cars strike your ball when you move through traffic, and people may become agitated and strike you with sticks.

Being struck not only knocks you off course, but also jars items loose from your ball reducing your overall mass.

Instead of buttons, Katamari Damashii uses both PlayStation 2 thumbpads in a Battlezone configuration. Press both pads forward and the ball rolls forward. Pull them back and the ball rolls back. Pushing one pad forward and the other back turns the ball.

The right thumbpad also controls the camera.

This control figuration works well, though Katamari Damashii does suffer from significant camera angle problems.

The music in Katamari Damashii is pure jazzy Japanese. Namco may need to change that music before exporting the game -- mainstream America may not be ready for these sprightly tunes.

And that brings us to the artwork, which is purposely crude. The people, animals, and creatures in Katamari Damashii look like they were carved from milk cartons. These graphics are bright, cheerful, and colorful, and in keeping with the game's overall theme.